Offices Held:
25th President of the United States (1897 – 1901)
39th Governor of Ohio (1892 – 1896)
U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 18th district (1887 – 1891, 1883 – 1884)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 20th district (1885 – 1887)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 17th district (1881 – 1883, 1877 – 1879)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio’s 16th district (1879 – 1881)

Facts about William McKinley

McKinley entered Ohio politics in 1869 and rose through the ranks as a Republican, winning election to the U.S. Congress in 1876.

McKinley was the first president to ride in an automobile while in office.

After Leon Frank Czolgosz shot McKinley, the crowd subdued him and began to beat him severely. The wounded McKinley shouted Boys! Don’t let them hurt him!

McKinley was the first president to use a telephone to campaign.

During the Civil War, McKinleys commanding officer was Rutherford B. Hayes, who also became President of the United States.

His nicknames included the Idol of Ohio, Ohio Napoleon and Wobbly Willie.

The chief event of McKinley’s administration was the war with Spain, which resulted in the United States’ acquisition of the Philippines and other islands.

McKinleys portrait was featured on the $500 bill, last printed in 1934.

McKinley defended a group of striking coal miners who allegedly incited a riot at a mine in Tuscarawas Valley before tussling with the Ohio militia sent by Governor Rutherford B. Hayes. All but one of the miners was acquitted, and McKinley refused any compensation for his services.

At 3:30 p.m. on September 19, the day of McKinleys funeral in Canton, OH, everything came to stop in New York City. The city was veiled in black, as public and office buildings, homes and businesses were draped with funeral bunting in all neighborhoods.

William McKinley Childhood

William McKinley was born January 29, 1843, in Niles, Ohio. As a young man, he briefly attended Allegheny College before taking a post as a country schoolteacher. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, McKinley enlisted in the Union Army; he eventually earned the rank of brevet major of volunteers.

Returning to Ohio after the war, McKinley studied law, opened his own practice in Canton, Ohio, and married Ida Saxton, the daughter of a local banker.

After the deaths, in quick succession, of her mother and her two young daughters early in their marriage, Ida’s health rapidly deteriorated, and she spent the rest of her life as a chronic invalid. McKinley patiently catered to his wife throughout his burgeoning political career, winning praise from the public for his loving devotion to her.

Where is William McKinley buried?

McKinley’s body first lay in state in the Buffalo City Hall, then transferred to Washington DC for a state funeral and finally returned to Canton, Ohio and temporarily interred in Westlawn Cemetery near his two small children.

In the following years, a massive mausoleum was constructed and dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt on September 30, 1907, four months after Ida’s death. McKinley and his children were exhumed and reinterred inside the circular interior.

How did William McKinley die?

After his second inauguration in March 1901, McKinley embarked on a tour of western states, where he was greeted by cheering crowds. The tour ended in Buffalo, New York, where he gave a speech on September 5 in front of 50,000 people at the Pan-American Exposition.

The following day, McKinley was standing in a receiving line at the exposition when a unemployed Detroit mill worker named Leon Czolgosz shot him twice in the chest at point-blank range. Rushed to a Buffalo hospital, McKinley initially received a hopeful prognosis, but gangrene set in around his wounds and he died eight days later.”

William McKINLEY Biography

McKINLEY, William, a Representative from Virginia; born in Virginia, birth date unknown; completed preparatory studies; member of the State house of delegates from Ohio County, Va. (now West Virginia), 1798-1804, 1806, and 1807; elected as a Republican to the Eleventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of United States Representative John G. Jackson (December 21, 1810-March 3, 1811); member of the Virginia state house of delegates, 1820, 1821, and 1824-1826; death date unknown.